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submitted by HanSoloz [link] [254 comments]

Submitted by James H. Kunstler, via Contra Corner blog,

 

Behold the proposed new Kingdom Tower for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia — at one full kilometer in height, about twice the size of New York’s new Freedom Tower.

The  Kingdom Tower comprises 252 floors of mixed market apartments, hotel rooms, and offices. It is an axiom that imperial societies build their greatest monuments just before they collapse, so consider this a portent for the oil empire of Saudi Arabia. There will always be an Arabia — well something will occupy that desolate region — but it may not be the private domain of the Saud clan much longer, especially as war breaks out across the Middle East and Persia.

This will give you some idea of the scale. A year ago I went on on a junket to Dubai (a panel to discuss the development of a proposed a new urban quarter). The opening night cocktail party was held at the top of the Burj Khalifa. I took a cab to the base of the damn thing, looked up at the top, and almost blew chunks. Well, I guess some people enjoy being trapped 2500 feet up in the air.

Considering the hostilities currently ramping up in that part of the world, I have just one design suggestion to make (below) that might make explicit the true destiny of the Kingdom Tower. After all, that is a technique pioneered by Saudis.

 

The post Peep Show appeared first on Bits and Pieces.

submitted by TunicSongForKaren [link] [44 comments]

Don’t worry, I’m not saying you should have Xbox Live for breakfast. Etsy store Big Nerd Wolf is selling actual tea that has geeky characters as tea hangers. Although they do look like they’re immersing their… lower extremities in your drink.

You can order the tea from Big Nerd Wold’s Etsy shop. A set of 4 bags costs $8 (USD), 8 bags cost $14 and 12 bags cost $18. The shop has various tea flavors to choose from. You can also order PDF templates of the tea hangers.

[via Laughing Squid]

In Western countries piracy is often seen as a leisure tool, granting people unauthorized access to the latest hits and Hollywood blockbusters.

However, there are also parts of the world where piracy is frequently used as a means to gather and spread knowledge. In parts of Africa, for example, where legal access to educational books and software is often restricted or unavailable.

Over the years we have seen various illustrations of the educational importance of piracy in developing countries. When the e-book portal Library.nu was shut down, for instance, we were contacted by a United Nations worker in Kenya, who voiced his disappointment.

“I am very concerned about the recent injunction against library.nu. The site was particularly useful for people like me working in Nairobi, a city that has no more than four bookshops with nothing but bestsellers,” the UN worker informed TF at the time.

In an effort to determine how piracy affects literacy and the spread of knowledge, the African Governance and Development Institute conducted an in-depth study comparing piracy and human development data from 11 African countries.

The findings, presented in a paper titled “The Impact of Software Piracy on Inclusive Human Development: Evidence from Africa” show that “software piracy increases literacy”.

“Adoption of tight IPRs regimes may negatively affect human development by diminishing the literacy rate and restricting diffusion of knowledge,” the authors write.

Not all copyright protection measures have a negative effect though, and the researchers found that is negatively linked to the human development index.

“Adherence to international IPRs protection treaties (laws) may not impede per capita economic prosperity and could improve life-expectancy,” the paper reads.

The paper reports mostly correlational data so it’s not unthinkable that countries where human development is higher have less need to pirate, as there are better alternatives.

The reverse effect could also apply to the literacy findings but according to the researchers this is unlikely. Researcher Simplice Asongu informed TF that his previous work showed a causal effect from piracy on scientific publications.

“I tested the impact of piracy on scientific publications and established a positive causality flowing from the former to the latter,” Asongu says.

From that research, it was concluded that African countries with less copyright restrictions on software will substantially boost the spread of knowledge through scientific and technical publications.

The findings reported here are limited to the effect of software piracy, but it’s not hard to see how book piracy may also positively influence literacy and the spread of knowledge.

In sum, the research suggests that piracy does have its positive sides, especially in terms of human development. Still, it seems unlikely that rightsholders will take that into account when lobbying for new policy changes.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and anonymous VPN services.

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puddingebola writes Microsoft has announced it will no longer manufacture Kinect for Windows. Only the Xbox One version will be available for purchase. Microsoft said it could not meet demand for the device, a strange claim for a company to make. The console version, though, will still work with Windows by way of a USB adapter, and as pointed out by this similar story at Gamespot, for about the same total price.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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